DOCSLIB.ORG

The Religion of Our Ancestors. Norse Mythology. Illustrated

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Religion of Our Ancestors. Norse Mythology. Illustrated THE REIvIGION OF OUR ANCESTORS. BY THE EDITOR. COMPARATIVE RELIGION has made much headway; but while the religions of Asia (Mohammedanism, Buddhism, Brahmanism, Confucianism, and Taoism), are very diligently stud- ied, the religion of our Saxon forefathers, of the Teutons in Conti- nental Europe, of the Norse and of the Icelanders, is much neg- lected. And yet it is of great importance— in some respects, perhaps, more important than the religions of the East, which at present stand in the foreground. For, while the Eastern religions are of foreign growth, the mythology of our ancestors has very largely entered into the present make-up of oui- Christianity. It will be astonishing to many people how many ideas, cus- toms, and aspirations of the old Northern world-conception have been embodied in Christianity and are now commonly regarded as peculiarly Christian. When the Roman See succeeded in being recognised by the new converts of Great Britain, and when the Anglo-Saxon Win- frid converted the Germans on the Continent, making them all spiritually subject to Rome, when, finally, the Franconians adopted the Roman form of Christianity, the ecclesiastical supremacy of Rome in Western Europe was firmly established ; but the con- quest of these large tracts populated by nations of Teutonic blood at the same time began gradually to change the Christianity of Rome. Innumerable dignitaries of the Roman Church, who came from the North, introduced many of their Northern views, festi- vals, and ideals, embodying them as much as possible in church institutions. The celebration of the birth of Christ at the time of the old Yule festival is by no means an isolated nor the most im- portant incident of Northern influence. The most momentous in- novation, which was due to the influence of the Teutonic races, 178 THE OPEN COURT. was the new spirit in which the doctrines of Christianity were re- ceived. While the old Christianity absolutely abandoned all worldly interests for the sake of salvation to be attained in a future life, the Teutons introduced their views of struggle and the ethics of strug- gle in this world. The Jerusalemitic Christianity had communistic tendencies and their communism practically constituted the most important feature of the new religion, so much so that those who would not submit on this point were supposed to be punished immediately by the Holy Ghost with death. The Jewish Christianity naturally went out of existence, because it attempted to realise an impossible ideah However, before it became extinct in Jerusalem, it was transferred to Greece and found two formulations which are represented, the one in St. Paul, the other in the Fourth Gospel according to St. John. In St. Paul's Christianity the second advent of Christ still constitutes the central doctrine. The apostle expects the return of Christ during his lifetime, and admonishes everybody to be pre- pared for it. From Greece, Christianity spread to Rome, where Christianity adopted the Roman forms of worship, continuing at the same time the belief in various Italian deities with a new meaning under the name of Christian saints. In spite of many close similarities, Roman Christianity was so different from Greek Christianity that they were never united. While the West of Europe fell to Rome, Greek Christianity spread all over Russia, where it became the state religion, and the Em- peror of Russia has come to be recognised as the official head of the entire Greek Church. Although Rome incorporated in its own institutions a great number of the changes that the conversion of the Teutons wrought, the difference between Roman Christianity and Teuton Christianity became so great in the course of time that it led, in the sixteenth century, to that great schism which is known as the Reformation. The abuses and the misgovernment which prevailed in those days in the church were the cause of the Reformation, but they were by no means the sole factor that led to the final and complete split dividing the old church into two camps, the Teutonic Christianity represented by the English, the Germans, the Dutch, the Swedes, the Norwegians, and the Icelanders, and the Roman Christianity, embodying the Romance nations, and including the Celts of Ireland. The difference between these two kinds of Christianity lies deeper than is generally supposed. The Roman Church had its THE RELIGION OF OUR ANCESTORS. 179 Hel, the Goddess of the Nether World. (By Johannes Gehrts.) l8o THE OPEN COURT. counter reformation, and almost all the abuses of which Luther complained were abrogated, or at least changed, so as to show no longer those features which made them objectionable ; and yet the split between the two kinds of Christianity remains and will remain so long as the main differences of national character, of habits, and of ethics distinguish the adherents of both forms of religion. In order to appreciate the difference that obtains between Teu- ton and Roman Christianity, we must go back to the world-concep- tion of the ancestors of the Teutonic races, as it took shape in their religion. There we find the character of the race in simple and strong outlines. The religion of our forefathers is illustrated in its practical application in Tacitus's account of the Germans, which is the most valuable information we have on the subject.^ Their mythology is not as artistically finished as the mythology of the Greeks, but it is superior to Greek mythology by being philo- sophically deeper and practically sounder. The significance of Northern mythology consists in the recog- nition of the struggle that is going on everywhere in the world. Death is inevitable, but death is transfigured when it is the death of a hero who fights courageously and, if possible, victoriously. Human ideals are represented in the Asas, and the Asas are the main gods of the Teutons, but the Asas have originated, they have to fight for their lives, and will finally perish again. The struggle for existence was perhaps nowhere severer than in the climate of Northern Europe, and the ethics of struggle were perhaps more important to the races of the cold north than to the people of the sunny south, and the Teutons learned the lesson. It is remarkable that all the Germanic races do not look upon strug- gle as being in itself an evil, nor do they look to victory as the main thing to be achieved. Their highest ambition is to fight the struggle nobly and squarely, not to shrink from either wounds or death, not to show cowardice of any kind, not to take advantage of a weak foeman. The most hated enemy's life was safe as soon as he was in a condition of helplessness, be it that he was without arms, that he was wounded or disabled from defending himself for some other reason. To be conquered in a duel or to be slain in battle was not regarded as a disgrace ; but the use of foul means for the sake of gaining a victory was considered a crime which brought contempt and shame upon him who dared to do it. 1 Tacitus's Germania is a short treatise, but it is of great historical importance. It should be a text-book in our schools, and every one who has a drop of Teutonic blood in his veins, be it Saxon, or German, or Norse, ought to have read and reread that ancient account of the habits and life of his ancestors. THE RELIGION OF OUR ANCESTORS. l8l As an instance of this nobility of the Teutonic ethics of strug- gle, we refer to an incident which is told in the Nibelungenlied. When Hagen, standing at the door of Atli's hall, overcomes all the Huns who try to force an entrance, he is at last met by Riidiger, a vassal of Atli and a personal friend of Hagen. Hagen reproaches Rudiger, not for coming to fight him, for that was Riidiger's duty, because he had sworn allegiance to Atli, but for combating a man whose shield has suffered serious injuries in former combats. While Hagen is worn out, Rudiger comes with fresh vigor, and since Rudiger would be ashamed of taking advantage of the insuffi- cient armor of his foe, he gives him the necessary equipment. Be- fore Rudiger proceeds to fight, he hands his own shield to Hagen and takes the dilapidated shield of his adversary in order to equal- ise the conditions of the fight. It is this ethics of struggle which made the Teutonic races so strong, and if the Saxon is taking possession of the world it is not so much due to a physical superiority of the Teutonic race, but to the superior views which they hold dear as to the methods that are to be employed in fighting their adversaries. Although infinitely superior to common mortals, the Asas, or gods, are not above error and sin. Indeed their conduct, although upon the whole quite noble and elevating, is not free from re- proach. They made mistakes, and having from carelessness got into trouble, they committed the worst sin imaginable to a Teu- tonic mind, —they broke their faith. This is the reason why the present condition of the world is full of evil and the Asas fight bravely against the powers of evil until at last, on doomsday, which is called Ragnarok, a final battle will take place in which the gods as well as their enemies will be slain, and the whole world will be destroyed. Yet this is not the end of all, for after the de- struction of the world through the fire of Muspil a new world will originate and the old gods will reappear with new chances for a better and more sinless life.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Number Symbolism in Old Norse Literature
    Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Medieval Icelandic Studies Number Symbolism in Old Norse Literature A Brief Study Ritgerð til MA-prófs í íslenskum miðaldafræðum Li Tang Kt.: 270988-5049 Leiðbeinandi: Torfi H. Tulinius September 2015 Acknowledgements I would like to thank firstly my supervisor, Torfi H. Tulinius for his confidence and counsels which have greatly encouraged my writing of this paper. Because of this confidence, I have been able to explore a domain almost unstudied which attracts me the most. Thanks to his counsels (such as his advice on the “Blóð-Egill” Episode in Knýtlinga saga and the reading of important references), my work has been able to find its way through the different numbers. My thanks also go to Haraldur Bernharðsson whose courses on Old Icelandic have been helpful to the translations in this paper and have become an unforgettable memory for me. I‟m indebted to Moritz as well for our interesting discussion about the translation of some paragraphs, and to Capucine and Luis for their meticulous reading. Any fault, however, is my own. Abstract It is generally agreed that some numbers such as three and nine which appear frequently in the two Eddas hold special significances in Norse mythology. Furthermore, numbers appearing in sagas not only denote factual quantity, but also stand for specific symbolic meanings. This tradition of number symbolism could be traced to Pythagorean thought and to St. Augustine‟s writings. But the result in Old Norse literature is its own system influenced both by Nordic beliefs and Christianity. This double influence complicates the intertextuality in the light of which the symbolic meanings of numbers should be interpreted.
    [Show full text]
  • The Conversion of Scandinavia James E
    University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Honors Theses Student Research Spring 1978 The ah mmer and the cross : the conversion of Scandinavia James E. Cumbie Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses Recommended Citation Cumbie, James E., "The ah mmer and the cross : the conversion of Scandinavia" (1978). Honors Theses. Paper 443. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND LIBRARIES 11111 !ill iii ii! 1111! !! !I!!! I Ill I!II I II 111111 Iii !Iii ii JIJ JIJlllJI 3 3082 01028 5178 .;a:-'.les S. Ci;.r:;'bie ......:~l· "'+ori·.:::> u - '-' _.I".l92'" ..... :.cir. Rillin_: Dr. ~'rle Dr. :._;fic:crhill .~. pril lJ, 197f' - AUTHOR'S NOTE The transliteration of proper names from Old Horse into English appears to be a rather haphazard affair; th€ ~odern writer can suit his fancy 'Si th an~r number of spellings. I have spelled narr.es in ':1ha tever way struck me as appropriate, striving only for inte:::-nal consistency. I. ____ ------ -- The advent of a new religious faith is always a valuable I historical tool. Shifts in religion uncover interesting as- pects of the societies involved. This is particularly true when an indigenous, national faith is supplanted by an alien one externally introduced. Such is the case in medieval Scandinavia, when Norse paganism was ousted by Latin Christ- ianity.
    [Show full text]
  • Download a Pdf File of This Issue for Free
    Issue 63: How the Vikings Took up the Faith Conversion of the Vikings: Did You Know? Fascinating and little-known facts about the Vikings and their times. What's a Viking? To the Franks, they were Northmen or Danes (no matter if they were from Denmark or not). The English called them Danes and heathens. To the Irish, they were pagans. Eastern Europe called them the Rus. But the Norse term is the one that stuck: Vikings. The name probably came from the Norse word vik, meaning "bay" or "creek," or from the Vik area, the body of water now called Skagerrak, which sits between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. In any case, it probably first referred only to the raiders (víkingr means pirate) and was later applied to Scandinavians as a whole between the time of the Lindesfarne raid (793) and the Battle of Hastings (1066). Thank the gods it's Frigg's day. Though Vikings have a reputation for hit-and-run raiding, Vikings actually settled down and influenced European culture long after the fires of invasion burned out. For example, many English words have roots in Scandinavian speech: take, window, husband, sky, anger, low, scant, loose, ugly, wrong, happy, thrive, ill, die, beer, anchor. … The most acute example is our days of the week. Originally the Romans named days for the seven most important celestial bodies (sun, moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn). The Anglo-Saxons inserted the names of some Norse deities, by which we now name Tuesday through Friday: the war god Tiw (Old English for Tyr), Wodin (Odin), Thor, and fertility goddess Frigg.
    [Show full text]
  • Scandinavian Influence in Kievan Rus
    Katie Lane HST 499 Spring 2005 VIKINGS IN THE EAST: SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE IN KIEVAN RUS The Vikings, referred to as Varangians in Eastern Europe, were known throughout Europe as traders and raiders, and perhaps the creators or instigators of the first organized Russian state: Kievan Rus. It is the intention of this paper to explore the evidence of the Viking or Varangian presence in Kievan Rus, more specifically the areas that are now the Ukraine and Western Russia. There is not an argument over whether the Vikings were present in the region, but rather over the effect their presence had on the native Slavic people and their government. This paper will explore and explain the research of several scholars, who generally ascribe to one of the rival Norman and Anti- Norman Theories, as well as looking at the evidence that appears in the Russian Primary Chronicle, some of the laws in place in the eleventh century, and two of the Icelandic Sagas that take place in modern Russia. The state of Kievan Rus was the dominant political entity in the modern country the Ukraine and western Russia beginning in the tenth century and lasting until Ivan IV's death in 1584.1 The region "extended from Novgorod on the Volkhov River southward across the divide where the Volga, the West Dvina, and the Dnieper Rivers all had their origins, and down the Dnieper just past Kiev."2 It was during this period that the Slavs of the region converted to Christianity, under the ruler Vladimir in 988 C.E.3 The princes that ruled Kievan Rus collected tribute from the Slavic people in the form of local products, which were then traded in the foreign markets, as Janet Martin explains: "The Lane/ 2 fur, wax, and honey that the princes collected from the Slav tribes had limited domestic use.
    [Show full text]
  • The Viking Age Study Guide Vocabulary
    The Viking Age Study Guide Directions: Study the below concepts and information and you will be prepared for class and assessments. Map: Artic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark Vocabulary Norsemen: Northmen Longship/Drekar: warrior ships used for raiding Cargo Ship/Knarr: used for trading and carrying cargo Banished: sent away and not allowed to return to a place or country Fjords: long, narrow inlets of the sea located between steep cliffs Glaciers: large and slow-moving bodies of ice and snow that form mountains and valleys Raids: sudden attacks, often involving the stealing or taking of goods Skalds: poets who memorized the Vikings sagas (stories) and mythology and passed them down from generation to generation Thing: outdoor assembly where the Norsemen met to make decisions about their town People Ingolfur Arnarson: Norseman who left Norway with his family and settled in Iceland Erik the Red: son of Ingolfur who led the first Viking expedition to Greenland Leif Erikson: son of Erik the Red who traveled from Greenland to Newfoundland in Canada Concepts Describe everyday life of the Norse and Vikings How did living close to water influence the way Vikings lived? Connect Viking civilization to Roman civilization Sayings and Phrases Last Straw Rule the Roost Grammar Conjunctions: words that connect other words or groups of words And: means plus, along with, also But: means something different (John likes strawberry, but Jim likes chocolate.) Because: means for this reason and answers the “why” question. It signals the cause of something Suffixes: word part added to the end of the root word that changes the meaning (-ed, -ing, -er/-or, -s/-es, -ian, -ist, -y, -al, -ly, -ous) -ive: means “relating to” (inventive relating to inventing) .
    [Show full text]
  • Norsemen and Vikings: the Culture That Inspired Decades of Fear
    The 2014 WEI International Academic Conference Proceedings New Orleans, USA NORSEMEN AND VIKINGS: THE CULTURE THAT INSPIRED DECADES OF FEAR Alexandra McKenna Introduction to Historiography and Method Dr. John Broom When one thinks of Vikings the mind’s eye often envisions muscular men covered in furs with large horned helmets. Thoughts of these monstrous men link themselves with words such as bloodlust, raids, and conqueror. Which leaves one to ponder why these men have come to be forever linked with such carnage, surely they must have had some redeeming qualities? Viking studies have increased in popularity during modern times. This has led many historians to pick up the sagas left behind by the Norse people, so that they may better understand the driving forces behind the decades of fear these Viking raiders inspired. What these historians have uncovered sheds new light on the Vikings, showcasing not only men of destruction, but also of enlightenment. It is widely believed that at the opening of the Viking age, Scandinavia housed a mere two million people.1 This time also saw an age of rapid population growth, which many historians and geologist alike, attribute to climate change. The warmer climate brought on during the early eighth century allowed for milder winters in the Norsemen’s cold climate.2 The warmer climate inspired the typical response of lower infant mortality rates, and a more protein rich diet that allowed for overall better health.3 It is thus feasible to believe that the overall population boom supplied the necessary push factor that inspired the Vikings to take to the sea in search of new lands.
    [Show full text]
  • Wooden Stick with Runic Inscription Mentioning Jerusalem [Iaurrusalem], Thirteenth Century
    Fig. 2.1: Wooden stick with runic inscription mentioning Jerusalem [iaurrusalem], thirteenth century. Excavated from Trondheim city centre 1973–1985. NTNU, Vitenskapsmuseet, Trondheim. Open Access. © 2021 Kristin B. Aavitsland, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110639438-003 Klaus Johan Myrvoll Chapter 2 Re-Naming Jerusalem: A Note on Associative Etymology in the Vernacular North As is the case with several cities and places that they came in contact with, the Norsemen had their own name for Jerusalem: Jórsalir, sometimes expanded and am- plified to Jórsalaborg “the city of Jerusalem” or Jórsalaland “the land of Jerusalem,” that is, “the Holy Land.” This chapter is a brief survey of the name’s etymology and possible connotations in the Old Norse world. At first glance, the Old Norse (ON) name Jórsalir may look like a purely phonetic ad- aptation of one of the Medieval Latin forms of the city’sname,Ierusalem:1 Jór-corre- sponds to Ieru-and-salir to -salem. Even though phonetic resemblance is one aspect of the Old Norse re-naming process, a closer inspection of the name Jórsalir reveals that each part of it carries several layers of meaning. What becomes clear is that the Norsemen, by naming the city Jórsalir, on the one hand made it more familiar to them by assimilating it to names for other important places in the North, like Jórvík and Uppsalir, and on the other hand gave the city a most appropriate name in accor- dance with its function as a centre of Christianity: I will argue that the name Jórsalir may be translated as “the city of the king.” This brings the Old Norse name in line with the concept of Jerusalem as “the city of the great king,” which is attested already in Ps 48(47):3, and is referred to by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.2 We do not know when the name Jórsalir cameintobeing,butitmusthavebeenin the tenth century at the latest, when the Norsemen were introduced to Christianity.
    [Show full text]
  • He Varangian Guard and Its Contribution to the Manifestation Of
    Revista Română de Studii Baltice și Nordice / The Romanian Journal for Baltic and Nordic Studies, ISSN 2067-1725, Vol. 7, Issue 2 (2015): pp. 7-26 HE VARANGIAN GUARD AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO THE MANIFESTATION T OF THE IMPERIAL POWER IN BYZANTIUM Alexandra Airinei “Alexandru-Ioan Cuza” University in Iași, E-mail: [email protected] Acknowledgements This paper was presented at the Sixth international conference on Baltic and Nordic Studies in Romania Historical memory, the politics of memory and cultural identity: Romania, Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region in comparison, organized by the Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies, Faculty of History and Political Sciences of Ovidius University of Constanța and International Summer School of The University of Oslo, Norway, May 22-23, 2015. Supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, The EEA Fund for Bilateral Relations, contract no. 910/20.03.2015. Abstract: The idea that motivated the writing of this article was to treat an aspect not only of the Byzantine military history, but also of the long lasting impression that this millenary empire has left on the Northern “barbarians”, as they are often called in the Orthodox medieval sources. Its central concept is, as the title already suggests it, the imperial ideology of power, but from another perspective: the contribution of the feared Scandinavian warriors to its outlining in the Byzantine public life, as opposed to the emperor’s private existence, always hidden from the eyes of his subjects. Also, I have tried to summarise a fragment of the Norse perception on Byzantium and in what manner it influenced the former participants at the Byzantine military campaigns when they returned home.
    [Show full text]
  • Mops the Scandinavion World Viking
    Mops The Scandinavion world ond Europe in the eorly Viking Age I Scandinavia in the Viking Age 63 The making of modern Europe was a slow and laborious business 2 Scandinavian settlement in Eneland 83 which the historian simplifies at peril. Modern conceptions of national growth and of national types are too easiiy applied to situations in the past where they are distorting, anachronistic and positively misleading. To be obsessed with the image of peaceful and peaceJoving Scandinavian farmers, taken from the history of Scandinavia over the last two centuries, can lead to falsification as great as that provoked by the nursery and early schoolboy image of ruthless Viking axemen, horn-helmeted and heathen, breakers of skulls and despoilers of churches. Reality was much more complex. Not all farmers love peace. A ravager in May can turn a skilful hand to corn-harvest in August. One of the main objects of this book is to point to the highly complex human situation of raid and settle- ment, of piracy and cultivation that we mask under the conveniently smooth description of the viking Age. This Viking Age with its rough chronological extent from 800 to I 100 had a tremendous effect on the making of modern Europe. The process of recovery from the economic dislocation and political disaster which attended the fall of the Roman Empire in the West was not far advanced when the fresh wave of barbarian invasion struck. The historian, and especially the social and economic his- torian with his knowledge of happenings still to come, can see that this recovery was more than recovery, that Europe was proliferating ln new growth, that the Carolingian world was different from and in many ways superior to the late Classical world it aped and thought to be reconstituting.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Gmc. Family
    1 _______________________________________________________________________ Germanic as a Family 1.1 Introduction Germanic (Gmc.) is a member of a larger language family known as Indo-European. Other western descendants from Indo-European include Greek, Latin, and Celtic. Because of their common ancestry, the Germanic languages (Gothic, German, English, the Scandinavian languages, etc.) share many linguistic properties and structures. Early references to the Germanic tribes are made by the Romans, with whom the Germanic peoples had daily contact. Germanic mercenaries in the Roman army were numerous along the Rhine, where the Romans had established two provinces, Germānia īnferior ‘Lower Germania’ and Germānia superior ‘Upper Germania’. The Roman cities of Colōnia Agrippīna ‘the colony of (named after) Agrippa’ (Cologne / Köln) and Augusta Trēverōrum ‘imperial (city) of the Treveri’ (Trèves / Trier) were along major trade routes. Apart from the lower Rhine area (to Trier and Cologne), there was contact in Holland, Gaul, and Britain. Most of the early loans into pre-OE resulted from direct contact with the Romans west of the Rhine estuary, after the Anglo-Saxons had penetrated as far west as Flanders and Normandy (Green 1998: 216f.). Daily staples and their preparation were taken over from the Romans. Wine was a very early loan (L vīnum), as shown by loss of the final syllable everywhere in Germanic, e.g. Gothic wein, ON vín, etc. (Gmc. *wīnan HGE 467). Moreover, the Romans referred to the predilection of the Germānī for wine (Caesar, De bello gallico 2.15, 4.2; Tacitus, Germania 23). The very early date for the export of Roman wares (Green 1998: 204–11) is confirmed linguistically.
    [Show full text]
  • • Reading Comprehension 7
    READTHEORY Name________________ Date________________ • Readiing Comprehensiion 7 Level 9 Directions: Read the passage. Then answer the questions below. Among the old Norsemen, it was customary for certain warriors to dress in the skins of the beasts they had slain, and thus to give themselves an air of ferocity, which was calculated to strike terror into the hearts of their foes. Of course, one may also assume that a wolf or bear skin would make a warm, comfortable outer coat for a man whose manner of living required him to defy all weathers. Many legends speak of these warriors, also known as berserkers, and imply that they were physically transformed into the beasts whose skins they wore. The werewolf is one such being. There is also mention of a type of man who was bewitched into bear shape. Legends suggest that the skins carried the power of the beasts and, when worn, turned the wearer into that animal at the height of its capabilities. The berserker was an object of terror, as his life’s goal was to challenge quiet country farmers to combat. As the law of the land stood in Norway, a man who declined to accept a challenge from a berserker forfeited all his possessions, even his wife, over to the hands of his challenger. Therefore, the berserker had any man he challenged at his mercy. If the berserker slew him, the farmer's possessions became his, and if the poor fellow declined to fight, he lost all legal right to his inheritance. A berserker would invite himself to any feast and contribute to the hilarity of the entertainment by snapping the backbone or cleaving the skull of some merrymaker who displeased him.
    [Show full text]
  • On Rune-Inscribed Relics of the Norsemen in Shetland
    II. ON RUNE-INSCRIBED RELICS OF THE NORSEMEN IN SHETLAND. BY GILBERT OOUDIE, ESQ., F.S.A. SCOT. The history of the Shetland Islands (in common with that of the Orkneys) divides itself naturally into three distinct periods, viz.:— Pictise (I.Th ) h period, ending about A.D. 870; e (II.Norsth ) e period, from A.D. 870 to A.D. 1468; and (III.) the Scoto-Norse period, from A.V. 1468. It has heen my privilege, owing to incidental discoveries which have come undeable eyeb y o plac et o m rt , e befor e Societth e y on former occasions contemporaneous relics illustrating interesting fea- tures of the first and third of these periods.1 The rune-inscribed stone now presented furnishes occasion for the illustration of the second. It is obvious, from the results of archoeological investigation, that the native inhabitant f Orkneo s d Shetlanan y d attaine o meaha dn o nt d positio e scal th f ancien o en i n t civilisation n particularI . e Brochth , s 1 The Pictish period—(a) Notice of Excavations in a Broch and Adjacent Tumuli near Levenwick e paristh f Dunrossnessn o hi , , Zetland (" Proceedings," vol. ix . p. 212; (6) On Two Monumental Stones with Ogham Inscriptions, recently dis- covere n Shetlani d d ("Proceedings," vol. xii . e Scoto-Nors20)p . Th . e period —Notice of two Charters in the Norse Language, found among the Papers of the Sheriff Court of Shetland ("Proceedings," vol. xii. p. 472). ON RUNE-INSCRIBED NORSE RELICS IN SHETLAND. 137 or towers of strength, erected by them with a prodigious expenditure of meano n y b s unskilful labour, evinc econcentratioa f energno y for pur- pose f defenco s e which must excite wonde d admiratioan r ne eveth t na presen t e studydayTh .
    [Show full text]